Stand Firm and Stand Out - The Prayer of Jabez

We do not know whether Jabez had to persevere in prayer to receive his breakthrough. I do know that his prayer is the kind you may not know has been granted right away - not if you are looking for physical evidence. I do not think his territory immediately expanded, or material blessings miraculously appeared before him the moment he finished his prayer. No, his name was still Jabez, so he would have had to stand firm on God's irrevocable blessing every single time he heard his name called: "Pain!", or introduced himself as "Sorrow". Anytime something went wrong for him, he would have to stand on the authority of God's blessing and intentionally not say that the reason things were going wrong was because of what his parents named him. Jabez would likely have had to deal with people who did not see the blessing on his life and could not accept that things had changed for him. I am convinced that the reason we know about the prayer of Jabez is not only because he had faith, or he believed boldly when he prayed. The reason we know about the prayer of Jabez is that he persevered in faith, standing firm for the rest of his life. As a result, he stands out in a genealogy.

When the centurion found out that Jesus was on His way to his house to heal his servant, he could have let Jesus come and perform the miracle in person. Instead, he stood firm in his belief that Jesus had the authority to heal with the words of His mouth. If he had let Jesus come, his servant may well have been healed, but it is his standing firm on his faith and putting it into action that makes him stand out to Jesus. He may have had people advise him: "Just let Jesus come! What if you tell Him not to come and your beloved servant dies?" He may have had to wrestle with those thoughts within his own heart and mind. Whatever the opposition, he chose to stand on his faith in the authority of Jesus. As a result, Jesus marvelled at his faith (Luke 7:9) making him stand out forever amongst the healing miracles of Jesus.

So, how do we stand firm?

Foundation, Foundation, Foundation

Have you heard of the phrase "location, location, location"? The same applies here: where we stand matters. As Believers, we stand on Jesus our Rock, so we might say "foundation, foundation, foundation".

Matthew 7:24-27 and Luke 6:47-49 tell us the key to standing firm is hearing God and doing what we hear. Hearing the Word of God and responding with action causes us to be like houses with strong foundations that do not fall or even wobble in stormy seasons. John 13:17 tells us there is a blessing that comes from doing the things we hear.

"If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them"

Storms come, whether we are for God or against Him. Their effect on us depends entirely on our foundation.

"When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more, but the righteous has an everlasting foundation" - Proverbs 10:25 NKJV

The everlasting foundation of the righteous is Jesus. 1 Corinthians 4:10 tells us that Jesus is our "spiritual Rock". We lay our foundation by establishing ourselves in the Living Word, Jesus Christ. But we must dig deep.

Dig Deep

Deep things are usually inaccessible without intentional effort. When things are deep they are often hidden from view; imperceptible without effort and equipment to locate and reveal them. Laying a foundation on the Rock means going beyond the superficial and pursuing a deeper relationship with and revelation of God. The centurion had a revelation about Jesus - that His words had the authority to heal (Luke 7:6-8) and Jabez had a revelation of God who can positively change the course of his life through a blessing.

Both the wise man and the foolish man built houses. They both put in the effort to build a habitable structure - the part people see. The wise man took the time to first build downwards, to dig deep to where no one sees once the house is built. He dug deep into the earth until he reached the rock. When he got to the rock he laid the foundation. Only when he had laid the foundation did he begin to build the structure that would be visible above ground level.

Jesus said:

"Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you who he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock" - Luke 6:47-48a (NKJV)

When we to come to God, hear from God and then obey what we have heard from God, we can be confident that when storms come the righteous will be "brought safely through the floodwaters" (see 1 Peter 3:20). Obedience does not make us righteous in God's sight, but being conscious of our right relationship with God does lead to obedience. A lifestyle of obedience takes devotion, dedication and discipline.

Devotion is a loving commitment to God alone - it is submitting our hearts to God. We do not obey out of legalistic obligation but because we want to please our Lord. Devotion will gladly dig as long and as deep as it takes to get to the Rock. Devotion knows that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) so true devotion has faith in God.

Dedication is a singular focus on God's plans - it is submitting our souls (mind, will and emotions) to God. Dedication to God and His Kingdom takes the time to lay the necessary foundation. It does not try to cut corners but is wholly committed to a life of service to God, saying: Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 11:6)

Discipline is making every effort to stick to and repeat the necessary tasks and attitudes even if we fail, even when it is hard, even when we do not understand, even if we do see do not see progress and especially when we do - it is submitting our strength to God. This discipline determines to submit to God's order in all that it does, remembering that when we are weak He is strong (2 Corinthians 12:10)

The reward is that when the rain comes and the stream overspills its banks causing flood waters to beat vehemently against what we have built - and it will - we will not fall. We will not even shake. We will stand firm in faith developed in the intimacy that comes from obedience based in knowing where we stand with God. Standing out is a blessed bonus, never the goal.

A Building Inspection

The foundation holds up and contributes greatly to the integrity of the building. When we build without a foundation we may find we are trying to hold things up by ourselves. We become weary as the lack of foundation causes what we are building to develop structural issues that require our mental, emotional, or material resources to address. If you often feel weary, stressed, anxious or overwhelmed, consider whether you need a building inspection, because Jesus said:

"Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Come to Me, I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis. Simply join your life with Mine. Learn My ways and you'll discover that I am gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me. For all that I require of you will be pleasant and easy to bear." Matthew 11:28-30 TPT

Blessing in Action: Stand Firm and Stand Out

Thankfully, we do not have to wait for a storm to reflect on our obedience. We are blessed with a Building Inspector, the Holy Spirit.

1. To ensure we are cultivating a lifestyle of obedience through devotion, dedication and discipline let's pause to review and consider the meaning of these 3 Ds. How have we practised them in the last week? In what concrete ways can we make them part of the week ahead?

2. Understanding that we all have areas we can improve, let us ask the Holy Spirit to inspect us by repeating the following prayer as many times as it takes to become our very own prayer:

God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart. Examine me through and through; find out everything that may be hidden within me. Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares. See if there is any path of pain I'm walking on, and lead me back to your glorious everlasting way - the path that brings me back to you. Psalms 139:23-24 TPT

3. Let's write down and talk to God about anything that comes to mind or heart, repenting where necessary and making a fresh commitment to obey both past and future instructions.

Blessing!

Boma

Missed some of this mini-series on the Prayer of Jabez? Go back to the beginning to find links to the other posts